Cato's Hike

“Who says that computer programming should only be left to the adults?… although Cato’s Hike is geared towards children, it can definitely unlock the little programmer in all of us.” – AppAdvice

Cato is a little boy who just like every little boy likes to go out and play. One fine day Cato was playing outside when a portal to another world opened up in front of him; a portal to another world!

Cato stepped through and discovered that this world unlike his own didn’t follow the same rules. Every time he tried to take a step or an action he’d find himself stuck in place. Stuck that is until he finally discovered the rules in this universe: by writing a program for himself he would be able to overcome all obstacles and learn something new along the way!

Features:

Simple programming interface using beautiful cards with pictures

A visual manual to help guide parents and more interested users

Loops, branches and if/else, goto labels, looking and chaining looks to look ahead, goto’s, and simple memory using colored flags are the main tools used to introduce programming (some features about to be released in version 1.3)

60 levels and 12 tutorials (always working to add more!) – (2 of them in version 1.3 not yet released)

Powerful map editor so you can create your own maps and puzzles and share with friends

Preview your maps directly in the map editor to save time and test out your maps more quickly!

Saves program progress so you can pick up at any time and iteratively develop

Email your puzzle solutions to share your genius with others

Beautiful artwork and amusing sound effects and music

Puzzles ranging from easy to hard to teach different programming concepts without trying to force them

Emailed maps include gorgeous screenshot of what you are sending so your friends know what to expect

Cato’s Hike teaches children (ages 5%2B) the essentials of programming and how to think about solving complex problems

The challenges in there are solvable easily by children of all ages but more nuanced and complex solutions should challenge teenagers and parents alike!

Just a fun puzzle game :)

Upcoming features:

MORE LEVELS!

Hints on harder levels

Possibly more tutorial levels if enough ask for it

Possible cloud-sync

Essentially, ‘Cato’s Hike’ is a universal game for the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch to teach kids and young children basic programming skills. The younger ones will obviously enjoy solving levels using simpler coding techniques but the hope is the older ones will pick up more advanced concepts like loops and branching as well as even more advanced concepts like a basic stack or memory! There is enough in here to keep everyone from children to parents engaged! More challenges are upcoming however so stay tuned!

As with all my projects I take this one very seriously and I hope you enjoy. I intend to continue improving Cato’s Hike as much as possible and incorporate your feedback and suggestions as well as try to make it more intuitive and better able to convey the concepts it is setting out to teach. If you have any questions, suggestions, ideas, or bugs you’d like to report please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly at: hesham.wahba@gmail.com

Version 1.1

fix 4 levels that couldn’t be completed

added missing level

added new level “Look Before You Leap!” to “Branching Out” world

saves default program so you don’t have to keep saving if you restart a level or go on to a new one, just hit new program if you want to start fresh

saves default program over last loaded program so you can iteratively develop even if you exit and come back later

emailed maps include gorgeous screenshot of what you are sending so your friends know what to expect

removed default email from sharing of maps

fix subject in email to “Cato’s Hike” not “Cato’s Journey” which was an older test name of game

updated credits

What others are saying:
“Who says that computer programming should only be left to the adults?… although Cato’s Hike is geared towards children, it can definitely unlock the little programmer in all of us.” – AppAdvice